


Part III: Demigod Cannonball Run

by Aviditas04



Series: The Alexander Chronicles Book I: Greece [3]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Book 3: The Titan's Curse (Percy Jackson), Canonical Character Death, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-03
Updated: 2019-09-07
Packaged: 2019-11-08 11:47:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 12,016
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17980745
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aviditas04/pseuds/Aviditas04
Summary: It is Alex's second winter at Camp Half-Blood, and Luke continues to raise the stakes in his quest for vengeance against Olympus.  As new demigods Bianca and Nico di Angelo join the Camp, Annabeth is captured and Artemis disappears.  It is up to Alex and his friends to race across the country in order to save them and stop Luke from causing doomsday.





	1. Westover Hall and a Reunion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a quick note: my personal fancast for Nico is a young Skandar Keynes, say around the age he is in Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

It had only been three months, and I was ready to kill Thalia. Every day it got worse and worse, so much so that I was almost ready to move to the _mortal_ world with Percy, or even the Underworld just to get away from her. Every morning, I prayed to Vesta to find her a new family. At noon, I asked Juno to take her to Olympus. And at night, I prayed to Pluto and Diana, begging one of them to take her.

  
 Unfortunately, one day I made the mistake of praying too close to her, and she challenged me when we got back to our cabin. "Praying to the gods to get rid of me, eh? I'll show you!" We quickly picked up from where we had left off yesterday, and an hour later, we had destroyed Juno's cabin and burned the roof off of Ceres', and Chiron was chewing us out again, demanding that we undo all the damage we had caused, again.

  
 After he had left, Annabeth came up to me. "Hey, Alex."

  
 "Annabeth, please tell me you weren't the one that told Chiron."

  
 "Sorry. I would have let you two fight it out, I thought that might calm you two down. But when you destroyed Hera's cabin, I had to tell Chiron."

  
 "Thanks a lot, Annabeth," I growled out.

  
 "But that's not why I'm here. Dennis brought in another half-blood today."

  
 "Another one? Sheesh, how many does that make? Seven? Eight? And he still doesn't have a searchers' license?"

  
 "Not for lack of support from the Council of Cloven Elders. Apparently, he simply doesn't want one. Oh, and Chiron wants to meet with us in an hour."

  
 I walked off, telling her that I needed to make sure Clarisse didn't 'initiate' him. Once I was out of earshot, I started muttering about how much I hated Thalia. I heard someone else muttering "hate this place." I didn't realize how close he was until we bumped into each other, and I knocked him to the ground. He looked like he was about twelve years old, he had dark brown hair, deep brown eyes, and lightly tanned skin. He was wearing filthy clothes that looked like he hadn't changed them in more than a week, and smelled like he'd been dunked in toilet water, and he had military dog tags around his neck. But the most intriguing thing about him was his scent: it smelled like the dew on the grass and gave the impression of the coolness of the night. I gave Javier a quick tour and explained things before running off for my cabin. For some reason, I was almost _scared_ of him and I didn't know why. It wasn't because I couldn't figure out who his mom was. Heck, there were still dozens in the Hermes cabin that I couldn't figure out. I wanted to be a friend to him, but something held me back. I wondered if my fear actually had something to do with our parents, like Annabeth and Percy had been in the beginning. But that was a problem for later, right now, I needed to go to the Big House to meet with Chiron.

  
 "So Chiron, what's up?" That was when I noticed the others in the room. Annabeth I had expected, but Thalia was here as well, and to my surprise, Percy. I thought he had gone back with his mom after the summer ended. "Percy? What are you doing here?"

  
 "He's actually the reason we're here, Alex. According to him, Grover sent him a distress call two days ago. I called the four of you here so I could tell all of you where Grover is and discuss what we're going to do," Chiron explained.

  
 "We're going to help him obviously. Now, where is he?"

  
 "Very well, Annabeth. Grover is in Bar Harbor, Maine. Specifically he's at a school called Westover Hall Military Academy."

 

* * *

 

 About ten hours later, we were passing through Bar Harbor in Ms. Jackson's car. The seating arrangements had been a little difficult to figure out, considering how much Thalia and I despised each other, we couldn't sit next to each other, or we would have owed Sally a new car, and Percy wasn't much better with her. Fortunately Annabeth was able to play musical chairs and work out a peaceful solution. When we arrived at 1000 Sols Cliff Road, Westover Hall, Sally managed to embarrass Percy even more than on the ride. "Are you sure you don't want me to wait?"

  
 "No thanks, Mom. I'm not sure how long it will take. We'll be okay."

  
 "But how will you get back? I'm worried, Percy." Percy blushed as red as a cherry when she said that. I just smiled sadly. It was times like these that really made me miss my old mom.

  
 "It's okay, Ms. Jackson. We'll keep him out of trouble." Sally visibly relaxed when Annabeth said that. She held her in high regard, probably because of how many times Annabeth saved Percy's life. Me, not so much. Sally basically thought that alone, we were trouble; together, anything and everything dangerous in a five mile radius would find us.  The problem with her thinking was that she wasn't too far off with that.

  
 "All right, dears. Do you have everything you need?"

  
 "Yes, Ms. Jackson. Thanks for the ride."

 

 "Extra sweaters? You have my cell phone number?"

  
 "Come on, Sally. You know we can't use phones." I loved her more than my own mom these days, but when she was nervous, she forgot things. Nothing important, only little things, like how a monster could find us if we used things like phones.  
 "Your ambrosia and nectar, Percy? And a golden drachma in case you need to contact camp?"

  
 "Mom, seriously! We'll be fine. Come on guys."

  
 When Sally was out of sight, Thalia said "Your mom is so cool, Percy." I stared at her in shock: that was the first compliment I'd heard out of her to anyone besides Annabeth in six months.

  
 "She's pretty okay. But Alex's mom is far nicer."

  
 I grimaced at that. "Not anymore, she's not. Ever since she returned from the Underworld, she's changed."

  
 "What do you mean, changed?"

  
 "You guys ever watch the Oliver Stone movie, _Alexander_? My mom has turned into Olympias, always talking about people betraying me, plotting against me. I could barely stand living with her for two days!"

  
 "So _that's_ where you went after we finished fixing our cabin." That was the last thing anyone said, until we were inside Westover Hall.

  
 The place was huge, and decorated to make sure everyone knew they were in a military academy. The entire building smelled of sulfur, and death. The only thing that lightened the feel was the music playing in the background. We'd barely gone fifty feet when the sulfur smell got worse, and two people came forward, a mortal woman, and a man with a scorpion tail-definitely a monster. They demanded to know what we were doing there. I thought that we were dead, until Thalia snapped her fingers, and green smoke that I knew to be Mist flew away from her fingers. "Oh, but we're not visitors, sir. We go to school here. You remember: I'm Thalia, I'm in the ninth grade. And this is Annabeth, Percy, they're in the eighth grade and Alex who's in seventh."  I glared at her for making me sound either younger or dumber than Percy.

  
 Miraculously, the monster decided not to attack us, and Grover managed to get us away from them. "So what's the emergency?"

  
 Grover took a deep breath and said "I found two."

 

 "Two demigods? Here, in the middle of nowhere?" It had started to get harder to find demigods, Luke was recruiting them as fast as he could, and because of that, we weren't getting as many new campers as normal.

  
 "A brother and sister. They're thirteen and fifteen. I don't know their parentage, but they're strong. We're running out of time, though. I need help. Fortunately there's only one monster."

  
 "Great, these kids at the dance?" Grover nodded and led the way to the gym. When we got there, I was hit by the smell of death-the smell of the Underworld, almost as hard as the Lotus flower scent when we first walked into the Lotus Hotel & Casino. Grover was right, these two were strong, and they smelled very familiar.  Wait a minute, the Lotus Casino?  Nah, it couldn't be, could it?

  
 "Smell anything, Alex?" Percy asked.

  
 "Death. The entire gym smells of death." Naturally that freaked everyone out, probably thought that I meant that we were going to die, or someone had already died. But that wasn't what I meant. These two were children of the Underworld.  Could it really be . . ? "Grover, what's their name?"

  
 "Di Angelo, why?"

  
 My eyes widened in shock, could it really be?  I had to be sure.  "The boy, does he have black hair, pale olive skin and eyes like liquid silver?"

  
 Grover (and everyone else) stared at me in shock.  "How did you know that?"

  
 I just grinned.  "Nico.  So, he finally let you out, did he?" Nobody knew what I meant by that, so they decided to ignore it. In order to have something to do, Thalia pulled Grover into a dance while Percy and Annabeth started talking, until Thalia forced them to dance as well. Of course, that left me to keep an eye on my crush. But I couldn't believe that Hades had loved someone enough to have two kids with-that definitely had not been just another casual affair.

  
 When I noticed that Doc Thorn was watching us, I decided to hunch down, mingle and then become invisible (I decided to hunch so I'd be out of his sight when I went invisible.) When I stood up again, Nico and Bianca had disappeared! I wanted to turn to the others, but I wanted to beat Thalia in a way that would make her look bad. She was sent to help Grover recover the demigods, yet I would be the one that actually saved them. Besides, this was _Nico_ , I couldn't wait to talk to him again! I wandered around the immediately area of the school, searching for a stronger smell of death or even sulfur. Eventually, I crossed a smell that mixed death, the ocean, and sulfur. I followed it outside to the cliff just to the east of the school, where I found Thorn with Percy and the new kids standing near the cliff. "Unfortunately, you are wanted alive, if possible. Otherwise you would already be dead."

  
 "Who wants us? Because if you think you'll get a ransom, you're wrong. We don't have any family. Nico and I . . . We've got no one but each other."  Nico?  He had NICO?!

  
 "Do not worry little brats. You will be meeting my employer soon enough. Then you will have a brand new family."

  
 "Luke. You work for Luke."

  
 "You have no idea what is happening, Perseus Jackson. I will let _le Jeneral_ enlighten you. You are going to do him a great service tonight. He is looking forward to meeting you." _The great General shall be freed, The betrayer carries his burden_. I remembered that as the next line in Phoebe's prophecy, but it didn't say who the General was, other than the fact that he was obviously a Titan. "The Great Stirring of monsters. The worst of them, the most powerful, are now waking. Monsters that have not been seen in thousands of years. They will cause death and destruction the likes of which mortals have never known. And some we shall have the most important monster of all-the one that shall bring about the downfall of Olympus!"

  
 "You mean monsters like Perfidia?" I interrupted.

  
 " _Oui_. Wait a minute, who are you?"

  
 "That will be difficult, considering we destroyed it last summer." I said, while I pulled out Ventus out and activated its’ bow form. I knocked an arrow and shot him in the shoulder.

  
 "Ahhh! You shot me! I'll kill you for that!" Thorn screamed out while the di Angelos dropped to the ground, eager to avoid my arrows.

  
 “You _will not_ touch them,” I growled at him just before attacking him with Ventus’ sword form.  He avoided my thrust and attacked me with . . . his tail? “What in Tartarus are you?” I asked in shock.

  
 “A manticore,” Annabeth answered.

  
 Nico, who was obviously doing his best to cope with what he was seeing and hearing, quickly spouted off the manticore’s stats in Mythomagic, before slapping himself in embarrassment. I simply grinned at him before turning back to attack it when I noticed the helicopters closing in. Thankful for my enhanced sight, I took a quick glance, and nearly panicked when I noticed that they were armed, and there was a trace of magic on them.  They were coming for us, and were probably why Thorn was so calm about taking both of the di Angelos on his own.  Well, I couldn’t let that happen, so I quickly changed Ventus’ form and shot at them, targeting their engines and props. I was an idiot, the downward draft from the props made it impossible for the arrows to hit, so I switched weapons. A single blast of electricity fixed that, sending the helicopters crashing into the sea, just as a volley of silver arrows came flying at Thorn. I grinned, knowing exactly where they came from.

  
 Sure enough, from the woods came about a dozen girls in silver parkas, all of them carrying bows and quivers full of silver arrows.  Naturally, Thorn complained.  “Not fair! Direct interference is against the Ancient Laws!”

  
 “Shut it, you,” I insisted.  “You’re a wild beast, and that is what the Hunters were formed to do: hunt wild beasts. _Salve_ , Diana,” I said, directing the last part at my sister.

  
 “ _Salve_ , Alex,” she responded before turning to her lieutenant.  “Permission granted, Zoë.”

  
 “Never!  The godlings are mine!” Thorn yelled before turning towards us.  I quickly returned Ventus to it’s gladius form and charged it up with electricity before blasting him, just as three silver arrows were launched at him. “Very well, if I can’t have them alive, I shall have them dead!” he growled out before launching a dozen spikes at us.  A dozen silver arrows intercepted them, while Annabeth jumped on Thorn’s back, sending him into the Atlantic, with her still on him. Percy ran after her, but Thalia held her back.

  
 I looked at my sister, and she looked at me. “Diana,” I said in a cold tone.

  
 “Alex,” she responded in the same tone. We glared at each other until we couldn’t take it anymore and broke into laughter before running towards each other and sharing a hug. “It is good to see you, little brother. How are things?”

  
 “Same as always, sis. Up and down, up and down,” I said with a grin. “How about you? Any new hunters?”

  
 “No, but I hope to add to their number soon,” she said with a smile.

  
 “Whoa, wait up, time out, what’s going on here? Who are you, and what do you want with us? And how do you know Nico?” Bianca demanded of me.

  
 “Sorry for not introducing ourselves, Bianca,” I stated. “My friends are Percy Jackson, demigod son of Poseidon, Thalia, demigod daughter of Zeus, and Grover the satyr. I’m Alex Summers, demigod son of Zeus, I met Nico last year in Vegas. Oh, and allow me to introduce my favorite sister: Artemis, goddess of the moon, virgins and the Hunt.  As for what we want with you, you are both demigods, and we want you to come with us to train so that you can protect yourselves from monsters like Thorn.” Nico immediately started connecting the myths with Mythomagic, and I just had to laugh.  “Neeks, I love you, but calm down! Unfortunately, there are no stats to learn with this, but my _father_ does wield some very dangerous lightning bolts. If anything, the game _under_ estimates them,” I finished with a smile.

  
 “NO!  There are no gods!” Bianca insisted.  “This isn’t real!” She was clearly deep in denial-ville.

  
 “Oh, no?” I asked.  “Then tell me, how can I do this?” Denial was alright in some cases, but these two were obviously in big trouble already, and we didn’t have time for it.  So, I held my hands about two feet apart and created a bolt of lightning connected by my palms.  After a minute, I reabsorbed it and turned back to her.  “Satisfied?  The gods are basically immortal, and they are still having demigod kids, you two among them.  The problem is that the monsters still exist as well, and that makes our lives dangerous.”

  
 “HAH!  I _told_ you that bus driver had horns!  And that those guys in the alley weren’t normal!” Nico crowed.

  
 “I think we’ve burdened them enough for tonight,” Diana stated.  “Zoë, set up camp, we will stay here for a few hours. Treat the wounded and retrieve the di Angelo’s belongings from the school.  Bianca, please, come with me. I wish to speak to you in private. Alex, why don’t you take care of Nico?”

  
 We waited until they had all left, and greeted each other the way we had wanted since we saw each other again: Nico leapt into my arms and we shared a hug.  Gods, but if I hadn’t made that oath, I would have kissed him. “It’s good to see you again, Alex. Did you keep your promise?” Nico demanded.

  
 I grinned at him. “Of course I did, Nico, at the first opportunity. Want to try a round?”  Nico jumped at the chance, and we quickly started the game. I figured Nico would be a good player, considering he had been playing at least six months more than me, but we both had fun with the game. During our game, I noticed he had quite a few of the rarer cards. “Not a bad collection, Nico. How many do you have now?”

  
 “Oh, almost all of them, except for a few of the rarest, and some of the figurines. I don’t have Hades, for example, but I’ve got most of the other gods.”

  
 “And I suppose you don’t know how long you’ve been collecting them, thanks to the Casino, huh?”

  
 Nico stared at me, allowing me to play a card to gain the lead for the first time. “Yeah, how did you know?”

  
 “Well, Percy, Annabeth and Grover still have fuzzy memories of our time there, so why wouldn’t you?” I stated.

  
 “Them, not you?”

  
 “The flowers knocked me unconscious, they didn’t affect me the way they normally do,” I explained. “Hey, Nico, what do you remember about your parents?”

  
 “I don’t remember much of anything before the Casino, why?”

  
 “Oh, I’m trying to see if I can guess who your Olympian parent is.”

  
 “Ah, I see. Well, I know our mom was around the most, so she’d be our mortal parent, right? And I know father was pale and had dark hair.” I nodded, that was about what I expected. Then he noticed Percy and he immediately started bombarding him with questions, and with a flushed face. My heart fell, as I recognized the symptoms immediately, for I suffered from them myself. Nico had a crush on Percy, just as I had a crush on him. Was I doomed in my chances for love? **_No_** , I had vowed _not_ to fall in love again!

  
 In any case, I couldn’t take watching them, and escaped to the forest. “Thou knowest ‘tis not a good idea for thou to wander alone,” a voice called to me.

  
 “Zoë, I would welcome an attack right now, it would take my mind off my problems.”

  
 “Problems?  What problems dost thou have?”

  
 “Nothing you could help me with, Zoë, for it is a problem of the heart.”

  
 “I see. Perhaps thou couldst use the company?” I smiled and nodded. Despite the near-hatred many of the Hunters had for guys, I was an exception to that rule.  Partly it was because of the good, loving relationship I had with Diana, and partly because I respected each and every Hunter and treated them as I did Diana, as my sisters. Zoë was a bit of an exception as she despised heroes ever since she helped my Greek half-brother Hercules, back during his attempt to steal a golden apple during his trials. She had been the one to come up with the idea on how to do it, but he claimed he had done everything on his own, and even worse was the fact that even after she was cast out from amongst her sisters, he did nothing to help her. Fortunately my friendship was slowly washing away that resentment.

  
 Then, without warning, she stood up and left, saying “My lady is calling me. Farewell, Alex, I hope that thou doest resolve thy dilemma soon.”  I shook my head, doubting it could ever happen, but I decided to follow her. Dawn would be coming soon, and I knew what would come with it, my favorite Greek brother, Apollo.


	2. I Get Into a Lot of Trouble

 When Diana told us to avoid looking at Apollo until he parked, none of us disobeyed. I knew that I could look at the divine form of the Olympians without disintegrating, (how I still don’t know,) but I was pretty sure I could still be blinded by looking directly at the sun (Hey, just because I'm a demigod doesn't mean I'm not human.) When it stopped, it was in the form I was most used to, a red Maserati Spyder convertible. "Hey, Apollo! Long time no see," I greeted my big brother with a smile. Apollo was the only Olympian that I knew of that had no difference between his Greek and Roman sides, for they were one and the same. Rome saw no need to change him, except to give him his extra duty as god of the sun.

 

"Hey, Alex, little sister! What's up? You never call, you never write. I was getting worried!"

 

"I'm fine, Apollo. And I am not your little sister."

 

 "Hey, I was born first."

 

 "Not according to Father. The way he tells it, Diana was born more than a week before you."

 

 "Aww, did you have to bring Dad into it, Alex? Now, what's up? Got the girls with you, I see. You all need some tips on archery?"

 

 "I need a favor. I have some hunting to do, alone. I need you to take my companions to Camp Half-Blood."

 

 "Sure sis! I feel a haiku coming on!

 

_Green grass breaks through snow_   
_Artemis pleads for help_   
_I am so cool"_

 

 Percy looked confused, so I turned to him and explained. "Our brother is the god of poetry, among other things, even if he is terrible at writing it. According to Mars, he's been on a haiku rant ever since he made a stop in Japan. So far it's not as bad as his limerick rant, yet."

  
 "'Tis true. If I'd had to hear one more poem that started with, There once was a goddess from Sparta-" Zoë continued. We both shuddered at the idea.

  
 "I've got it! I am so awesome. That's five syllables! And now, sis. Transportation for the Hunters. And considering Alex is here, I assume some campers too. Let's see . . . Thalia, right? Alex has told me all about you."

  
 "He has, has he Lord Apollo?" Thalia asked suspiciously, glaring at me all the while.

  
 "Zeus' girl, yes? Makes you my half sister. Used to be a tree, didn't you? Glad you're back. I hate it when pretty girls get turned into trees. Man, I remember this one time-"

  
 "Apollo, we really should get going," I insisted.

  
 "Oh, right,” he agreed.  Then he noticed our fifth companion. “Percy Jackson?"

  
 "Yeah. I mean . . . yes, sir."

  
 Apollo studied Percy, trying to figure him out. Percy looked a little tense so I laughed and explained to him, "He's just trying to figure you out Percy. He's heard a lot of stories about you, most of them with you as a troublemaker. Yet here, you just showed a lot of respect to the one god you never really need to worry about offending. Well, unless you insult Leto or Diana. You're a mystery to him, and they still call me Nygma."

  
 "Well! We'd better load up, huh? Ride only goes one way-west. And if you miss it, you miss it." Unfortunately for him, he had to change the sun into a school bus to fit all 30 of us. After Artemis left, Apollo made the worst decision with the sun since Helios allowed Phaeton to drive: Apollo had Thalia drive the sun. Even though we hated each other more than Minerva and Mars did, I knew that she was scared of heights. To her credit, she did protest, but when it was apparent that Apollo wouldn't take no for an answer, I demanded to be let out. "If she's driving, Nico and I will get to camp on our own."

  
 "We will?"

  
 Apollo knew better than to argue with me. "Well, if you insist. Go ahead." I grabbed Nico and dragged him off the bus. Once we were off, I pulled him deep into the woods.

  
 "Why did you pull me off? What was wrong with Thalia driving the sun?" Nico asked with pure curiosity.

  
 "Nico, have you ever heard of the story of Phaeton, son of Helios?" He nodded, yes. "Well, picture that happening again, with someone who's afraid of heights and you'll get the idea of what my sister driving will be like." That was when I heard a sound like two dogs growling, and the scent of sulfur in the air. "I don't suppose you have a weapon, do you? Of course not, silly me." I pulled out my extra, short celestial steel sword and handed it to him. "I really hope you don't need to use this, but just in case."

  
 "Just in case of what?"

  
 "We're about to be attacked by another monster." Then it came in sight. If I didn't know better, I'd have sworn that it was Cerberus, except this dog only had two heads. "Dioskilos? I thought he was created just for _Clash of the Titans_."

  
 "It's Orthrus!" How did he know more about Greek Mythology than I did? No matter, I still needed to protect Nico and get him to Camp safely. I pulled out Ventus and prepared to attack the dog, but he leaped over my head and went after Nico. Amazingly, Nico was able to take his heads off with one swipe. "Wow, Nico! I've never seen a demigod kill their first monster so quickly! That was amazing!"

  
 "Really?" Nico was actually _blushing_ when he asked that! He was embarrassed by my praise! Or was it possible my crush wasn't so one-sided? Wait, I needed to drop that line of though. After Luke burned me, and Nico’s clear crush on Percy, I was NOT going to let my walls down. "So, um, how are we going to get to camp?"

  
 "Climb on my back. We're going to fly the Hermes skies." He looked confused, but obeyed anyway. I then started running, (trying to ignore the feel of his body hugging mine) and activated the flying shoes Luke had given me, and we headed to Long Island at high speeds-high enough to catch the sun, possibly. On the trip, we noticed a couple odd things. First, Cape Cod had frozen over, and then Rockville, Connecticut had caught on fire, and all the snow had melted (there had been close to three feet of snow when we passed through the area on our way to Westover.) When we finally landed at camp, I noticed the canoe lake had been evaporated in one section. The naiads couldn't be happy about _that_.

  
 Chiron was waiting for us. "I was worried when you two didn't get off the bus with the others. But when Percy told me what you had done, well Alex, I must say I am very disappointed in you. Don't you realize how dangerous it was for Nico?"

  
 "But Chiron, Thalia is dangerous in the air. I'm willing to bet that at least once in the trip, every single Hunter was praying to Diana, begging her to save them from her driving. Besides, it wasn't _that_ dangerous. The only monster we ran across was Orthrus, and Nico was able to kill it with one strike."

  
 "You shouldn't have left the others, Alex! That was very irresponsible of you. Starting now, the only place you can go in the mortal world is the home of the Jacksons', you cannot go on a quest until you prove you can be more responsible than that. Nico, come with me." Nico very reluctantly left my side and followed Chiron. I could tell that he didn't like Chiron very much because of what he'd done to me.

  
 I would have started moping in my cabin, but I realized something, I have never legally gone on a quest. In fact, I'd only legally left the camp twice: once to go to Mount Olympus last year, and to help out Grover. Chiron's order didn't mean a thing to me, I knew more ways to leave camp than Hermes knew escapes from the Underworld. The revelation had barely come to me when Percy came by. "Hey, Alex. Welcome back, and I'm sorry about not being there to back you up. Chiron shouldn't have punished you that way."

  
 "Please, Percy. How is this a punishment? I've almost never left camp legally, so don't blame yourself. Besides, how would you have been able to help? I'm not upset, neither should you. You need to focus on saving Annabeth."

  
 "Believe me, I am. I'm planning on going to the Oracle tomorrow and see if it'll help. By the way, we're going to have a game of Capture the Flag tomorrow, Campers vs. Hunters. Chiron wanted me to tell you that you're still allowed to participate."

  
 Once Percy left, I went over to the forges and pulled Charlie Beckendorf, son of Vulcan aside.  “Hey, Alex, what’s up?”

  
 “Charlie, I need you to do me a favour.  I need you to make a Stygian Iron sword.”

  
 “You want me to WHAT?”

  
 “You heard me, Charlie.  I want a Stygian Iron sword.”

  
 “You’re crazy! Stygian Iron is dangerous! It doesn’t just dispel a monster, _it sucks out their life-force_! It’s an abomination, something that only children of the . . . Underworld use. That’s it, isn’t it? Di Angelo is a son of the Underworld, _isn’t he?!_ ” Charlie screamed the last part, and I shook my head in disappointment.

  
 “And what if he is?”

  
 "I absolutely _refuse_ to make something that has _any_ connection to the Underworld! And especially not for a half-blood from there! Forget it, Summers, find yourself another blacksmith! Because I quit, and forget about our friendship, because it is over." And with that, he stormed off. I sighed, upset at my friend, and wondered why he hated the Underworld so bad.

  
 "Damn, what was Beckendorf so upset about?" another boy asked. He was tall, probably only a year or two younger than Charlie with dark brown hair and eyes so dark I'd almost swear they were black. "Hi, Jake Mason, I don't think we've met before."  
 I smiled as I shook his hand. "Neither do I, which is kind of surprising. I thought I had met everyone by now. Hey, do you know why Charlie was so upset over the idea of forging a Stygian Iron sword?"

  
 Jake stared at me in shock. “ _That’s_ what made him so upset? I don’t get it, most of us would be glad to work with something so challenging. But could you get the water from the Styx?”

  
 I gave him a conspiratorial grin. “Trust me, I can get it.”  Less than two hours later, I returned to Jake with a barrel full of Stygian water, and he instantly went to work.

 

 The next morning, Percy told Grover and I about a dream he'd had about Luke and Annabeth, and Grover mentioned that Zoë had a dream about Artemis being kidnapped. "How would you kidnap an immortal goddess? Is that even possible?"

  
 "Well, yeah. I mean, it happened to Persephone," Grover replied.

  
 "But she was like, the goddess of flowers."

  
 "Springtime," I corrected. "And then there's the fact that she was kidnapped by Hades, but that doesn't matter right now. You say that Luke had been holding something up, like a cave ceiling, then got Annabeth to carry it. And now Artemis is missing? Sheesh, I got Phoebe's prophecy just in time."

  
 "What do you mean?"

  
 " _The great General shall be freed, The betrayer carries his burden, The fourth seal broken: A virgin huntress shall bear the sky_. This Titan General has been freed from his prison, because Luke, aka the betrayer, is carrying his burden, whatever that means. He passed it on to Annabeth, and now they're going to make Artemis carry . . . the . . . sky. Hmm, wonder what that means? I’d swear that it sounds familiar.”

  
 "Who knows, but I think the Hunters were scouting us."

  
 "Scouting us? What do you mean, Grover?" Grover then gave Percy a couple of brochures, all of them promoting the Hunters of Artemis. I'd seen all of them before, usually around the Camp message board, but why would Grover think that these were special?  
 "I found these in Annabeth's backpack. It seems to me . . . maybe Annabeth was thinking about joining them."

  
 I smiled at Grover, finally understanding his concern. "Listen, my sister simply makes certain that every female demigod knows all her options when it comes to this life.  I'm certain you could find such brochures among the belongings of most girls here. Outside of the Ve-Aphrodite cabin that is.”

 

* * *

 

 That night, we started the traditional Hunters vs. Campers Capture the Flag with me presenting Nico with his Stygian Iron sword, which he named Nightmare-Jake worked even faster than I had expected him too! The game started out okay, I mean, Thalia had a good plan, assuming the Hunters went along with it. But naturally, they had their own plan. While some of the Hunters did go after the decoy, a larger group went after Thalia's group. "Thalia isn't going to make it," Nico observed. Damn, he was good. Percy noticed the same thing and ran for the flag himself. We were sure to win, until we noticed Zoë charging towards us. I flew after her, hoping that wings really were faster than legs, but she had the speed of a nymph, and just as I was about to catch her, she crossed the creek.

  
 "PERSEUS JACKSON, ALEXANDER SUMMERS! What in the name of the gods were you THINKING? You were supposed to defend the flag, NOT let those stupid Hunters take it!" That was the beginning of the biggest fight I'd seen/been in in my entire life. Not only did Thalia nearly get into a major fight with Percy and myself, I finally understood how dangerous kids of the Big Three were if they got into fights with each other.

  
 "You want some, Seaweed Brain? Or how about you, Lex?" When the other campers heard that, they gasped in shock and terror. Only Clarisse had ever dared to call me that, and since then she's kept her distance from me.

  
 "Bring it on, sis." I called, just as Percy said "Bring it on, Pinecone Face!" Thalia was so furious that she called down a lightning bolt to hit Percy, but I jumped between them, absorbing the electricity and allowing it to charge me. "Bad move, sis. Or did you forget what lightning does for me?" I then pulled out one of my poisoned arrows and took aim at her, preparing to shoot . . . until I noticed the Oracle shuffling towards us, shrouded in Mist.

  
 "This is impossible. It . . . she has never left the attic. Never."

  
 I stared at Chiron. "You've lived for four thousand years, and you call this impossible? Sheesh, you need to get out more, Chiron."

  
 Then it spoke in the triple timbre that I guessed came naturally to it. I am the spirit of Delphi. Speaker of the Prophecies of Phoebus Apollo, slayer of the mighty Python. It stared at Percy and myself with it's cold, dead eyes, until it turned to Zoë and said, _Approach seeker, and ask._

  
 "What must I do to help my goddess?"

  
_Five shall go west to the goddess in chains,_   
_One shall be lost in the land without rain,_   
_The bane of Olympus shows the trail,_   
_Campers and Hunters combined prevail,_   
_The Titan's curse must one withstand,_   
_And one shall perish by a parent's hand._

  
 Then the Mist was swallowed back into the Oracle's body, and she collapsed. Naturally, Percy and I were elected to carry the Oracle back to the attic. When we got back downstairs, we discovered that Chiron and D had called a meeting of the cabin leaders to discuss the quest, and that Thalia had them start without us. "We can get five Hunters and go."

  
 "Yes. Artemis is being held hostage! We must find her and free her."

  
 "You're missing something, Zoë," I said. "First, the Oracle said ' _Campers and Hunters combined prevail,_ ' which means you'll need some of us to go with you. Second, there's a line in another prophecy you should hear: _The fourth seal broken: A virgin huntress shall bear the sky_. My sister isn't just being held captive, she's being used to free someone else. Saturn has used Diana to free a Titan from his prison, holding up the sky. Besides, you are _not_ doing this without me!"

  
 "NO! He can't be free. Thou must be mistaken, Artemis would never willingly free him. Besides, we do not need thy help."

  
 "What if he had already been freed, and a young girl was bearing the sky? I know my sister, she would come to any maiden's help, even if it meant being imprisoned."

  
 "What art thou implying?"

  
 "Haven't you been wondering what happened to Annabeth? According to a dream Percy had, Thorn delivered her to where the Titan was held, where she took the sky from Luke, a son of Mercury. Naturally, Diana would take the sky to help her. As for you not needing our help, do you really want to fight a prophecy? You know as well as I what happens if you try that."

  
 "We must not delay. This Friday is the winter solstice."

  
 "Artemis must be present at the solstice. She has been one of the most vocal on the council arguing for action against Kronos' minions. If she is absent, the gods will decide nothing. We will lose another year of war preparations." Say what you want about Zoë, but she knew the Olympians well.

  
 "Are you suggesting that the gods have trouble acting together, young lady?" Bacchus asked.

  
 "Yes," Zoë and I said together. “Just look at our father and uncles,” I continued. “They’re constantly arguing and threatening war with each other, when they aren’t being threatened by someone else, that is.”

  
 "Just checking. You're right, of course. Carry on."

  
 Then they started asking what the 'bane of Olympus' was, and they eventually turned to look at me. "What? Don't look at me, I'm a demigod, not a Olympian dictionary. I don't even know who the Titan is."

  
 "But thou hast spent more time on Olympus than almost any of us. Also, thy father is Zeus, surely he must have warned thee about potential threats?"

  
 "Actually, no he hasn't. The last time I saw him, he still refused to believe that Grandfather was a threat." After that, the meeting continued for another 15 minutes, eventually deciding on Zoë, Bianca, Thalia, Grover, and a third Hunter as the group (I really loved Zoë's comment when Silena said that she wasn't going. "A daughter of Aphrodite not wanting to be looked at? What would thy mother say?" Absolutely hilarious!) Percy suddenly realized that they had their fill of people, and demanded to join the quest, but Zoë preferred Grover to Percy, saying "I will take a satyr if I must, but not a male hero."

  
 "So you're just going to ignore the nature of satyrs, Zoë?"

  
 "I know what to expect from satyrs, and I have been betrayed by one of thy brothers before. I won't risk it again, especially as thou art very similar to him."

  
 "Once bitten, twice shy, eh?"

  
 "Aye."

  
 “And what about me? I will _not_ stay behind while my sister is in trouble! In any case, Grover isn’t a camper! He _works_ for the camp, so I’m going with you!” Chiron tried to convince me not to, but I just gave him a glare and he relented.

  
 After supper, I found Percy sitting in his cabin. "You know Percy, there's another option if you really want to save Annabeth."

  
 "What's that?"

  
 "Well, Phoebe's prophecy seems to be centered on us, so I was thinking. How about you follow us?"

  
 "You mean it?"

  
 "Percy, we have an opportunity that many people wished they had-we choose our family. We have an enormous family, and yet none of us are genetically related, which means we can choose who we want to treat as family. You and I have been through more things than I want to remember, and I think of you as more than a friend, or cousin. To me, you are my brother, and the only mortal that I'm proud to be related to. Of course want you to follow us. Although, you'll need to provide your own transportation."

  
 That night, I started playing the soundtrack to one of my favorite movies: _Stargate_ , and when I fell asleep, I had a dream. But like my last dream, this had nothing to do with the quest, or even Greece. _I was standing in a palace in Memphis, Egypt. Before me stood Pharaoh Khufu, his wife Meritites I, and their newborn sons, Djedefra and Khafra. "We have done it, my wife. The first Egyptian demigods have been born. With one of them as pharaoh, Egypt shall become the most powerful nation in the world."_

 

_"Yes, my husband. But what will the other gods do to Ra? I worry for the father of my children."_

  
_"What can they do? He is their king."_

 

* * *

 

_Suddenly, I was standing in a courtyard. Before me stood Isis, Osiris, Set, Sekhmet, and Horus having a heated discussion. "This isn't right. Ra should know better than to have demigod children. It's against our ancient laws. And he has me punish humans when they become rebellious."_

 

_"You're right, Sekhmet. But ever since he separated Geb and Nut for having us, no one has dared to go against him. How could we even do it?"_

  
_"Don't worry Osiris. I have the perfect way to get rid of him."_

  
_"You wouldn't dare, Set. If you allow Apophis to swallow him, you'll bring the wrath of Yahweh down on us. He would destroy us, and then Egypt!"_

  
_"Good point Horus. We're supposed to restrain Apophis until the Day of Judgment. So, how are we supposed to do it?"_

  
_"It's easy Set. Just give me a few decades, and I'll take care of Ra."_

  
_"You better, Isis. For the good of us all."_

 

* * *

 

_I suddenly jumped forward about 20 years. Khufu, host of Ra, was now an old man, drooling in his sleep. Isis gathered some of the drool, mixed it with some dirt, made a snake, and placed it at a certain spot just outside Memphis. When Khufu/Ra walked by, the snake bit him. On his sick bed, it was clear that he was dying. "My king, I can save you, if you tell me your name."_

  
_"My daughter, Isis. I am the one who causes the Nile to flood; I divide the year into seasons, and days into hours. I am called Khepri in the morning, Ra at noon, and Atum in the evening."_

  
_"No, none of those. I cannot heal you without your **true** name."_

  
_Ra hesitated, but agreed. "Then lean in." Isis did so and Ra whispered it into her ear. Isis then drove the poison out of Ra, and demanded Ra leave Egypt. "Why, daughter?"_

  
_"Because you have broken one of our ancient laws and had a child with a mortal. For that, you must be punished. Banishment is the worst I can think of."_

  
_"Very well. I had hoped that my children would bring us closer to Egypt, but I will do as you demand. When the time is right, pass my name on to Horus, for I choose him as my successor."_ Then I awoke to a tug in my gut. What was that, and what was with that dream? And why do I keep dreaming about Egyptian myths? Could they be true as well?  And was the music I listened to influencing what I dreamed of?


	3. I Make Three Immortals Mad at Me

When I looked outside, it was almost dawn, and knowing the Hunter's habits, I got ready to go as quickly as I could. I was running for the exit, when I hit Nico di Angelo. "Hey, Alex! Where are you going in such a hurry?"

"Hi Nico. I'm going to go catch the Hunters. By the way, have you seen Percy?"

"Catch the Hunters? You mean you're going after them, even though Chiron told you to stay here?"

"I'm not afraid of Chiron, or anything else for that matter. This won't be the first time that I've left the camp without permission. Besides, this is my sister we're talking about, I have to go! Now where's Percy?"

His answer started in a whisper so quiet that I don't think I was supposed to hear it. "Jeez, you sure are arrogant. Percy's gone after them himself, and he promised to keep Bianca safe for me."

"Thanks, Nico. And don't worry about your sister, you'll see her again. I'm going to do my best to make sure she comes back to you, I swear it on my life."

"Thanks, Alex," Nico said with a smile. I had to return his smile before turning away and joining the Hunters, Grover and my sister. On our way out of camp though, I couldn't help but feel a tug at my heart as I thought of how Nico would be left behind. I could only hope that he would be safe. I managed to catch up with Zoë, but only just, thanks to the winged shoes that Luke gave me just before the first quest I joined in on. After a quick argument, they let me in and we continued our way south.

* * *

The trip south was uneventful, for the most part. The worst part was the tension between myself, Zoë and Thalia. Zoë hated me because of my brother, Thalia and I had a rivalry, and Thalia and Zoë hated each other because they were so similar, and because Zoë had attempted to recruit Thalia. Sons of Dis, but I was glad to be sitting next to Bianca, no matter how awkward that was. "You know, you're really good for Nico, Alex. He's never had a friend before, and we both know how much you've stuck up for him."

"It was nothing," I said with a blush. "Anyone would have done the same."

"No, they wouldn't. For a long time, we were the only ones the other had. Then you came along and you were all Nico could talk about until the other day. I also heard what happened with Beckendorf. What you need to know is that _that_ is how we've been treated our whole life, like scum."

"That's not right, though I can unfortunately understand. With your parent being one of the gods of the Underworld, most mortals wouldn't feel comfortable around you. Even the gods aren't comfortable around Hades and the other Chthonic gods. That's the only reason Hades doesn't have a permanent throne on Olympus."

"Then why are you so comfortable around us?"

"Because most mortals, even those that don't believe in the Olympians don't like to accept the fact that they _are_ mortal. I know better, I know that the only true immortality is in our actions, and our souls. I know my body will die, and so I'm comfortable around death in all it's forms. My religion teaches me to feel as safe on the battlefield as I do in my own bed. When it's my time to die, then it's my time. I just hope that when I go, it's because I died to save the world."

"Why?"

"Well, partly because that's what we're here for, and for one other reason. Most of the time I don't agree with a certain philosophy, but sometimes it's useful: the needs of the many outnumber the needs of the few, or the one. When we listen to that, we become immortal, our deeds will echo through the ages." Bianca smiled, thanked me for that and told me that she would remember it when her own time came.

* * *

We had stopped in the Air and Space Museum when Percy came bursting in. "I was wondering when you'd join us, Perce," I stated, only to notice that he looked scared and out of breath. "What's wrong?"

"You! What art thou doing here?!" Zoë demanded.

"That's not important right now, Zoë. What is important is that Luke, Thorn, and the General are here, now. And worse, he's sending twelve skeleton warriors and at least one monster after us. So unless we leave, _now_ , we're dead!" Percy stated and then told us what he'd witnessed in the Natural History Museum.

"Zoë, if it _is_ the General-"

"It _cannot_ be! They must have seen an Iris-message or some other illusion."

"Illusions and Iris-messages don't crack marble floors. Now Percy is right, we need to get out of here as quickly as possible," I argued.

"If thou art telling the truth about the skeleton warriors, we have no time to argue. They are the worst, the most horrible . . . We must leave, now." Percy said that was a good idea, but Zoë cut him off before he could say anything else. "I was _not_ including thee, boy. You are not part of this quest."

"Sorry, Zoë, but he is coming with us. He's come this far, and I doubt that he'll go back until my sister and Annabeth have been rescued." Zoë and Thalia were about to object, but they were cut off by a 'ROAR' so loud that I could have sworn that the rockets were starting up again. I caught the smell of sulfur just as the monster leapt up the ramp. It was easily the biggest lion I'd seen up to that day (Since then I've actually seen bigger ones, believe it or not.)

"The Nemean Lion. Don't move," Thalia advised. I refused to do nothing, so I took off and shot it. Naturally it didn't penetrate (okay, shattered is probably more honest,) but hey, I had to try. I quickly realized that the only vulnerable place . . . was it's mouth. That gave me an idea. I turned to Percy, and it was clear that we had the same idea, "The gift shop!" Thalia and Grover stared at us, clearly confused, but Percy had already returned with an armful of the best weapon that we had against the lion. I yelled at the lion, and as it roared at me, Percy threw some of the astronaut food into its mouth, and it started choking. We had been through here about seven years ago, and we had begged our moms to get some; we regretted it after our first bite, so I couldn't blame the lion one bit. Percy tossed a few more servings, allowing the three of us with bows to kill it by shooting it's mouth full of arrows. After that, Zoë decided first to let Percy keep the pelt, and that he was now officially a part of the quest.

We were followed by a black helicopter, until Bianca pointed out the subway. But her explanation as to how she thought of it shocked me. "I saw that station when Nico and I came through last summer. I remember being really surprised to see it, because it wasn't here when we used to live in DC."

"New? But Bianca, they built it nearly 50 years ago. How could you not have seen it when you lived here before?"

"I . . . I don't know." We changed trains three times, just to make sure we ditched our pursuers. By the time we _did_ lose them, we were on the outskirts of DC, with the only other "human" in sight being a "homeless guy" that pointed out an auto-carrier train that was headed west (I use the word "human" loosely, considering it _was_ Apollo helping us out.)

We were just about to board the train when I caught the scent of sulfur, very close by. "Guys, monster alert. And it smells like . . . _a pig?_ "

"What art thou talking about, Alex? How doest thou know a monster is near?"

"Call it a gift, Zoë. All I can tell you is that it came from the wine dude, and that we should see it in three . . . two . . . one . . . now." Just as I finished speaking, we caught sight of the monster as it tore through a train, luckily not ours, yet it was nothing more than an enormous pig. Zoë and Bianca quickly brought it down with their bows, and Zoë said, "Lunch is served. On today's menu: the Crommyonian Sow."

"Thanks, but no thanks Zoë. I'm on a strict diet, and pig is definitely not kosher. I'll look for something else." Then I caught sight of the one thing that I never expected to see in America outside of a zoo, let alone in the middle of a train yard: four peacocks, two male, two female. "There we go," and I shot all four of them with the Bow before electrocuting them with my abilities. "Easy as pie, and already cooked. You guys want some?"

"Art thou mad, Alex? Doest thou not know that that bird is sacred to thy step-mother?"

I _had_ forgotten it, but "Who cares about Juno? The way I hear it, she hates all heroes, but she _especially_ hates my siblings, so what do I have to lose? Now, do you guys want some, or are you too scared of Hera?" Apparently they _were_ scared of her, so I had the four birds to myself. I had read in _Fortune's Favorites_ that the bird was tough and tasted worse than an old army boot, and I didn't believe it. I really should have listened to Titus Atticus, because he was _right_.

* * *

Our train stopped in St. Louis, which was really depressing for Grover, Percy and I, because the last time we'd been here, we'd been with Annabeth. I looked at Percy, and I knew he was thinking the same thing. "Hey, girls. If you don't mind, while we're waiting for another ride, Alex and I are going to ride to the top of the Arch."

"What? Art thou mad? Split up, just to see some stupid landmark? What hast gotten into thee?"

"Listen, Zoë. Last time we were in St. Louis, I kept Annabeth from doing it because of time constraints. Percy was willing to go, but I insisted we keep on the move. Annabeth was furious with me until we met with Mars. If we're here again, and we don't go and at least get some pictures, Annabeth will never forgive us. So sorry, but we're going."

For once, Thalia backed us up, so Zoë relented. Percy and I went up almost completely alone, except for an old woman and her Chihuahua, which was really weird, considering it was the middle of the day. Then again, the tourist season had ended, so I guess it was reasonable. The Chihuahua started growling at us, and the woman got after it saying, "Now, now Sonny. Behave." Sonny? She just called her dog Sonny? At the top, there were three people waiting, but they left about two minutes after we got there. "All right, son. Now we can."

"Um, did you just call that Chihuahua your _son?_ " Now, I've heard of people being close to their pets, but calling them your children? That was taking it a little far, so I can't blame Percy for asking that.

" _Chimera,_ not Chihuahua. It's an easy mistake to make."

"Did you just say _Chimera?_ Oh, no. You're Echidna, aren't you?"

"Echidna? Isn't that a kind of anteater?"

"I hate it when people say that! I hate Australia! Naming that ridiculous animal after me. I was going to leave you alone, Perseus Jackson, but you shall die along with the murderer of my children!" She turned to stare at me. "Oh, yes. I know all about you, Alexander Summers, son of Jupiter. Hera told me how you killed so many of my brood. Orthrus, the Hydra, my beloved Gorgons, the Nemean Lion, Scylla, the Crommyonian Sow. You even made Cerberus submit to you! You shall pay for your crimes against my family, son of Rome!"

By now, the Chihuahua had changed into a two headed monster beyond description. It had a large, leonine body with bat wings, a snake for a tail and two monstrous heads. One had a large horn over it's nose and a mouth full of sword-like teeth, while the other was more bird-like with three beaks-two on top and one on the bottom, and small horns on either side of it's head. I had _never_ even heard _rumours_ of a monster with that description, I only knew that it was the Chimera thanks to Echidna!

The old lady on the other hand had also transformed into a creature. She was at least nine feet tall and looked much like an enormous snake except for the fact that she had six limbs (much like snake tails) and had a blue, human head, a yellow neck and a 'collar' that looked like blue coral. Percy and I quickly activated our swords and our backs towards each other as we turned to our foes. Percy turned towards Echidna, while I faced the Chimera. I quickly ran off to the side, keeping the Chimera's attention focused on me, and activated my sneakers. The Chimera was dangerous _normally_ , let alone this . . . monstrosity of one, so I had no idea what to do. However, the wings were clearly the least dangerous part of it, so I decided to attack there. Unfortunately, I forgot to take it's snake tail into consideration and it bit me. I didn't feel any effects, so I kept going, but not before cutting the tail in half. While I was trying to weaken it, Percy did something crazy: he tied the limbs of Echidna to the window of the observation deck before tying the two heads of the Chimera together. But that wasn't the crazy part, the crazy part was up next. He shouted out at the Chimera "Go ahead, burn me! What are you waiting for?" Just then, I was bitten by that _cunnus_ snake tail, again! I passed out within seconds, but not before I saw the Chimera kill itself _and_ Echidna, as it's flammable spittle was all over itself and it's mother.

* * *

" _What happened to him?"_

" _The Chimera's tail bit him. Twice. How bad is it?"_

" _Bad. I'm surprised he's lasted this long. Usually it only takes one bite to kill, and that inside of five minutes. I've never heard of someone surviving_ _ **two**_ _bites. Doest thou have any idea how he does that?"_

" _I have no idea. But he has never been sick a day in his life. Maybe it's Apollo? Alex did say that they have a great relationship, and we all saw proof of that."_

" _Maybe. Thalia, wouldst thou take care of him?"_

" _I hate him! Why would I want to help him live? No, Zoë. I will not help him, even now."_

" _How couldst thou? He is thy brother! Thou shouldst help him out of family loyalty, if nothing else."_

" _He is NOT family, not to me! He said that as demigods, we choose who to treat as family, and who to treat as strangers, or even enemies. I choose to treat him as he is, my worst enemy!"_

" _Very well. Bianca wouldst thou be willing to take care of him?"_

" _Gladly. I owe him my life, and that of my brother's. This is the least I could do."_

_"Play some music for him, he likes that, and he says the right song can lead to visions of the future."_

* * *

_Sure enough, Percy was right. I was on the summit of a mountain, looking down on San Francisco, and an unfinished black palace made of marble that radiated a malevolent energy. Near the palace was a giant of a man that radiated the same malevolent energy, though he was nowhere near as evil as the building seemed. Then I was in San Francisco with the boy I had seen two years ago, the one that could pass as my twin. Above us was the same mountain, putting off enough smoke to make the moon look like it was blood red._

_The next vision showed a legion of teens attacking the palace, with my twin leading the attack. He was clearly in charge, calling out "12_ _th_ _Legion Fulminata, tear this place down! Leave not one stone on top of another!" Just then, a different giant with a horned helmet charged at him, and my twin took him on in single combat._

* * *

_Someone must have taken off my headphones after that, as I heard Bianca next._ " _Nico didn't understand my decision."_

" _He'll be alright. Camp Half-Blood takes in a lot of young kids. They did that for Annabeth. Besides, he seems to have really hit it off with Alex. I'm sure with him around, Nico won't miss you quite as much."_

" _I hope we find her. Annabeth, I mean. She's lucky to have a friend like you two."_

" _Lot of good it did her."_

" _Don't blame yourself, Percy. You risked your life to save my brother and me. I mean, that was seriously brave. If I hadn't met you two, I wouldn't have felt okay about leaving Nico at the camp. I figured if there were good people like you there, Nico would be fine. You're a good guy."_

" _Even though I knocked you down in Capture the Flag?"_

_Bianca was laughing. "Okay. Except for that, you're a good guy."_

" _So what's the story with you and Nico? Where did you go to school before Westover?"_

" _I think it was a boarding school in DC. It seems like so long ago."_

" _You never lived with your parents? I mean, your mortal parent?"_

" _We were told our parents were dead. There was a bank trust for us. A lot of money, I think. A lawyer would come by once in a while to check on us. Then Nico and I had to leave that school."_

" _Why?"_

" _We had to go somewhere. I remember it was important. We traveled a long way. And we stayed in this hotel for a few weeks. And then . . . I don't know. One day, a different lawyer came to get us out. He said it was time for us to leave. He drove us back east, through DC. Then up to Maine. And we started going to Westover."_

* * *

I finally woke up about five minutes after I heard Percy and Bianca's conversation. When I looked up, Percy and Bianca were doing their best to run while carrying me on a stretcher. "Hey, Bianca. What's going on?" I asked. My voice sounded weak, apparently I still hadn't recovered from the snake bites.

"Welcome back to the land of the living. We're being chased by two of Percy's zombies. Now, since you're awake, would you mind getting up so we can fight?"

"Sure." I got up, and promptly crumpled to the ground.

"Alex! Are you all right?"

"Yeah, Bianca. I'll just need some time to get my old strength back. Until then, I'll just have to use a crutch." I pulled out my new ankh and hit the button, and it turned into a spear (It's my second, because my first one was broken in an encounter with Polyphemus.) Then I turned it so that the point was in the ground and used it as a makeshift crutch. "Go on, and get into the fight. And Bianca? Use a knife or sword against them. You'll probably be the only one that can kill them." Percy and Bianca looked at me weird, but I noticed Bianca followed my advice and used her Hunter's knife instead of her bow.

I tried to stay out of the fight, but a fifth skeleton showed up in front of me. I rolled away from it, and reached for my Bow. The zombie reached me just as the Bow was activated, and I shot it at point blank range. Luckily for me, the zombie was completely disintegrated. Other than that, only Bianca managed to take one down, and we were clearly going to lose. We were only saved when the Erymanthian Boar showed up. When the pig started chasing Percy and the others, I decided the best way to stay with them was to use the boar as my means of locomotion. I pulled out Ventus and activated the side that I used the least, the trident. I then tied a rope on the end and threw Ventus into the boars' side, and I sat down on my shield, using it as a sled. The boar finally stopped running when night fell that day, and we were easily 300 miles from where we were when I woke (and for your information, no matter how bad Percy had it, I had it _worse_.)

Grover worked some of his tracking magic, and apparently we had to go through this enormous junkyard to get to Diana and Annabeth, but we unanimously voted to wait till morning to attempt the junkyard. That night, Thalia brought up the one topic I had hoped that we'd avoid. "What I want to know is how you destroyed one of the zombies. There are a lot more of them out there somewhere. We need to figure out how to fight them."

"I don't know. I just stabbed it and it went up in flames," Bianca answered.

"Maybe there's something special about your knife."

"It is the same as mine. Celestial bronze, yes. But mine didst not affect the warriors that way," Zoë disagreed.

"Maybe you have to hit it in a certain spot."

"No," I finally answered. "It has nothing to do with her knife or where she hit it."

"Then how didst she destroy it, Alex? Thou obviously knowest the answer, so please tell."

"She was able to destroy them because of who she is. Or rather who her father is."

"What art thou talking about?"

"Percy, Thalia, you remember me saying that the gym at Westover smelled of death, right? Well, what I was saying is that _their blood_ smells of death. She was able to destroy the zombies because her father commands the dead. This camp has the children of all of the Big Three."

"Wait a minute. Are you saying . . ?"

"Yes I am, Percy. Bianca and Nico di Angelo are the children of Hades. Congratulations, Grover. You've discovered the five most powerful demigods in more than sixty years."

"WHAT? You mean that even Hades broke his oath?"

"I'm not completely sure Thalia, though I doubt it. Of all the gods, Uncle Hades has the most respect for both oaths and the power of the Styx. But in any case, I want all of you to keep their father a secret. None of the Olympians, or anyone else, can know."

"Never mind that. We should plan our next move. When we get through this junkyard, we must continue west. If we can find a road, we can hitchhike to the nearest city. I think that would be Las Vegas."

"NO! Not there!" Bianca just completely freaked out at that.

"Why?"

"I . . . I think we stayed there for a while. Nico and I. When we were traveling. And then, I can't remember . . ."

Percy and Grover paled at that, obviously understanding the truth behind the di Angelos. "That hotel you stayed at. Was it possibly called the Lotus Hotel and Casino?"

"How could you know that?"

"Simple, that's where I met Nico," I explained.

"Wait. What is the Lotus Casino?" Thalia asked.

"Two years ago, Percy, Grover, Annabeth and I were trapped there. It's designed so you never want to leave, and just to make sure you stay, they drug you with Lotus flowers. They thought they were in there for only an hour, but we were actually there for four days."

"No. No, that's not possible," Bianca stated.

"You're an immortal, demigod Hunter of Artemis. You're currently traveling with three demigods, a nymph, and a satyr. And you think _that_ is impossible?"

"Thou did say that Washington DC had changed when you went back last summer. Thou did not remember the subway being there."

"Yes, but-"

"Bianca, canst thou tell me the name of the president of the United States right now?"

"Don't be silly. Barack Obama, though I am truly shocked at that."

"And who was the president before that?"

"George Bush, why?"

"And before that?"

"Roosevelt, Franklin Delano Roosevelt."

I can't say I was shocked at that. "That explains that. Hades _didn't_ break his oath. Nico and Bianca were born _before_ the Pact of the Big Three. Bianca, Roosevelt died 65 years ago."

"That's . . . that's impossible. I'm not that old." I would have comforted her, but I caught two scents that I was very familiar with, and ones that I'd hoped to avoid until the end of the quest. "We've got visitors coming."

The limo had barely stopped before one of the passengers had opened his door and had his sword at Percy's throat. "Not so fast now, are you, punk?"

"Brother," I growled out.

"At ease, people." He snapped his fingers, and all of our weapons fell to the ground, except for my spear-which I was still using as a crutch. "This is a friendly meeting. Of course I'd _like_ to take your head for a trophy, but someone wants to see you. And I never behead my enemies in front of my lady."

"What's thy business, Ares? Who's in the car?"

"Oh, I doubt she wants to meet the rest of you. Particularly not _them_. Why don't you all go get some tacos while you wait? Only take Percy a few minutes."

"Not until I see who's in the car, _brother_." I limped to the side of the car, and moved to see who was inside, but Ares moved to stop me.

"She's only here to see Percy, _cripple._ Now back off, or you'll _lose_ that leg."

"Not unless you want to get shot again." I quickly activated Ventus and pointed it at _his_ throat. "Now move aside, Mars." I looked inside, and I saw one of the most unattractive women I've ever seen. Even Medusa and Echidna looked better than her. "Who in the world are you?"

"My dear, I am Aphrodite."

I couldn't believe my ears. " _You're_ Venus?" I started laughing uncontrollably. That was the most ridiculous thing that I'd ever heard. When I finally stopped laughing five minutes later, I said "If you're Venus, then Paris must have chosen you strictly for Helen, because there is _no way_ that you could beat Minerva in my book. Besides, I've met her, and you don't look _anything_ like my lady! Lady Venus is far more attractive than you!" I walked back to the taco place laughing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Chimera description comes straight from Wrath of the Titans, while Echidna's is from Hercules: The Legendary Journeys


End file.
